Sewing machine x  x xx



May 22, 1956 w. A. AYRES 2,746,407

SEWING MACHINE Filed Jan. 25, 1954 2 3 2 2 /0 k 4 W 2 i at 1 1/1 miZ 4 I zzzof INVENTOR. Mame-me 4. Ayess United States Patent once 2,746,407 a SEWING MACHINE Waldemar A. Ayres, Lakewood, Ohio, assignor to White Sewing Machine Corporation, Lakewood, Ohio, a corporation of Delaware i t Application January 25, 1954, Serial No. 405,723

2 Claims. (or. 112- 228 i This invention relates toa sewing machine and particularly -to the rotary hook or shuttle beneath and in combination with the bed plate of the sewing machine.

The present invention is embodied in a sewing machine of the type having a horizontal rotary hook or shuttle beneath the bed plate andadjacen-t to but at one side of 2 reciprocating needle 14 moves. The horizontal rotary hook is indicated at and is cup-shaped as is usual in rotary hooksor loop takers and is provided with a loop seizing beak or hook that engages with and manipulates the loop in the upper or needle thread as the needle moves through the'opening 1 3 beneath the bed plate in its reciproca-tion as will be well understood in the art and hence this detail of the rotary hook or shuttle 15 is" not illustrated. j i 'It will be understood that the loop seizing beak or hook of the rotatable hook enters the loop in the upper or needle thread and carries one side of such loop in front of the rim of the body while taking the other side thereof to the rear of the bobbin case carrier. Clogging will not occur if the upper or needle thread loop is properly or normally formed andlthe loop seizing beak carries such loop in the correct manner around the bobbin case or holderf On the other hand, should the upper or needle thread loop be improperly formed as, for example, if it should be too slack or if loose threads should accumu-' it late in the vicinity'of therotary hook, such improperly tle as must be done for various reasons, such as to clear thread jams and the like. The previous constructions have used complicated arrangements for mounting the bobbin case or holder in the rotary hook or shuttle and in providing for its removal therefrom.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide in a sewing machine improved and novel and simple means for mounting the bobbin case or holder in the horizontal rotary hook or shuttle and forretaining the case or holder and "the bobbin in proper operative position While at the same time enabling the case or holder and the bobbin to be removed from or inserted in the rotary hook or shuttle easily and readily whenever it is desired to do so. Y

A further object is to provide in a sewing machine a horizontal rotary hook or shuttle mechanism such that thread jams are not apt to occur and if they do occur they can be readily eliminated from the rotary hookmechanism. t p v Further and additional objects and advantages not hereinbefore referred to will become apparent hereinafter during the detailed description of an embodiment of the invention which is to follow.

Referring to the accompanying drawing illustrating said embodiment of the invention and forming a part of this specification, t

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view through the bed plate of a sewing machine and the horizontal rotary hook or shuttle mechanism thereof that is located below the bed plate, said Fig. 1 being taken substantially r on line 1-1 of Fig. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows, and

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially on line 2-2 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows.

The bed plate of the sewing machine is indicated at formed loop or loose threads may be picked up by the loop seizing beak and be drawn between the bobbin case or holder and the rotary hook and may become so 7 tightly wedged therein as to prevent the free and eificient operation of the rotary hook or may even completely stop its operation. When such an occurrence takes place it is.

necessary usually to remove thebobbin case or holder from the rotary hook. Heretofore such removal has been difficult due to the complicated construction of the means for retaining the bobbin case or holder in the rotary hook.

As Will hereinafter become apparent the construction illustrated and embodying the present invention provides for i the disassembly and assembly of the bobbin case or holder with the'rotary hook in a manner that is so simple as to present no problem whenever it is necessary to remove the bobbin case or holder from the rotary hook.

The rotary hook 15 for illustrative purposes is shown as formed integral with a vertically extending shafit 1'6 and said shaft 16 and rotary hook 15 may be suitably and rotatably supported beneath the bed plate 10 by means of a bracket, not shown, but which is fully illustrated in my Patent No. 725,023, November 29, 1955.

The rotary hook 15 and shaft 16 may be suitably driven at the proper speed of rotation by a gear train interconnecting the shafit 16 with the feed shaft of the sewing machine :that is beneath the bed plate but which arrangement is not illustrated inasmuch ash is fully disclosed in my saidPaten-t No; 2,725,023. 1

Ordinarily the rotary hook will rotate twice for each rotation of the feed shaft as will be Well understood in the art. The cup-shaped rotary hook or shuttle 15 is provided internally with an annular shoulder 17 which is relatively Wide in a radial direction and which supports an annular external flange 18 of the cup shaped bobbin case or holder 19 when the latter is nested 'within the rotary hook or shuttle as is clearlyillustrated in Fig. 1. It will be noted that the shoulder 17 and flange 18 i provide an extensive bearing support between the rotary 10 and is provided with the usual hand hole or opening 1 11 that is normally closed pby the hand hole or opening cover plate 12 which may be removable bodily or which may be hingedly connected to the bed plate 10 so as to be raised to an open position and lowered to aclosed position as will be well understood in the art.

Adjacent to the hand hole or opening 11 and just to the right thereof as viewed in the drawing, the bed plate 10 is provided with an opening 13 through which the hook and the bobbin case or holder so that the latter is properly stabilized within the rotary hook. The upper edge of the circular Wall of the bobbin case or holder is provided with a notch 20 whichwhen the case or holder is positioned in the rotary book can be engaged with a restraining lug 21 carried by the underside of the bed plate 10 and projecting beneath the hand hole or opening 11, Wherefore the bobbin case or holder 19 will be held against rotation with the rotary hook 15 and the latter will rotate relative to the stationary bobbin case or holder.

The usual bobbin 22' for the lower thread is nested within the bobbin case or holder 19 as will be well un- Patented May 22, 1956! derstood in the .art. The cover 12 for the hand hole or opening 11 is provided on its underside with a pad of flexible or cushioning material 33 which may be formed of plastic, rubber or other suitable cushioning material and which overlies the bobbin holder or case 19 when the parts are assembled in operative relationship with the cover 12 closing the hand hole or opening 11.

The pad 23 may be of any suitable configuration but is shown herein as substantially a circular pad. When the parts are in assembled relationship there will be sufficient clearance between the pad 23 and the upper end of the circular wall of the bobbin case holder 19 to allow the thread from the bobbin to pass over the top edge of the bobbin holder. .However, this clearance will not be such as to allow the bobbin holder or case 19 to have sufiicient vertical movement relative to the rotary hook 15 so as to allow the bobbin holder or case to become displaced with respect to the rotary hook.

It will be understood that the pad 23 functions during the operation of the machine to hold the bobbin case in properly assembled position within the rotary hook and that any movement of the bobbin case vertically to an undesired extent is resisted by the pad. It will also be noted that the slight vertical movement which the bobbin case or holder may have relative to the rotary hook or shuttle 15 due to the slight clearance between the pad 23 and the upper end of the vertical wall of the holder or case helps to obviate the likelihood of threads,

jamming between the flange 18 and the shoulder 17. However, should it be necessary or desirable for any reason to remove the bobbin case or holder and the bobbin from the rotary hook, either to clear up thread jams or to replace the bobbin with a new bobbin or for any other reason, the operator simply raises the cover 12, grasps the bobbin case or holder 19 and removes the same from the rotary hook and carries it through the hand hole or opening 11 to the upper side of the bed plate.

It will be understood that in removing the bobbin case or holder the same is first tilted upwardly slightly at the side thereof opposite to the notch 20 and then is given a slight lateral movement to disengage the notch from the lug 21, after which it can be freely moved through the hand hole or opening 11. Conversely, when it is desired to place the bobbin case or holder in the rotary hook it is passed through the opening 11 at a slightly tilted angle and the notch 20 is engaged with the lug 21 after which the bobbin case or holder can be turned to a horizontal position when nested in the rotary hook 15 with the wide annular flange 18 engaging the wide annular shoulder 17.

After the bobbin case or holder has been positioned in the rotary hook the operator merely manipulates the cover 12 to close the hand hole or opening 11.

It will be understood that when the sewing machine is operating the bobbin case or holder 19 is held against rotation by the lug 21 engaging in the notch 20 and that the rotary hook 15 rotates relative to the bobbin case or holder as is common in sewing machines of this type, all as will be well understood in the art.

Although a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated anddescribed herein it will be understood that the invention is susceptible of various modifications and adaptations within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention 1 claim:

1. In a sewing machine of the type having a horizontal rotary hook beneath the bed plate and at one side of and adjacent to the path of movement of the vertically reciprocating needle and rotatable on a vertical axis, in combination, a cup-shaped rotary hook provided internally and adjacent its bottom with a horizontal annular supporting surface, a substantially cup-shaped bobbin holder or case nested in said rotary hook and provided adjacent its inner end with an external annular flange engaging said horizontal supporting surface of said rotary hook and acting to support said bobbin holder or case in said rotary hook so said hook can have rotation relative to said holder or case while the latter can have vertical movement relative to said hook, said bobbin holder or case being provided in its upper edge with a notch, a bed plate above said rotary hook and bobbin case or holder and provided on its underside with a lug extending into said notch and restraining said bobbin case or holder against rotation, and a pad of cushioning material on the underside of said bed plate and overlying the upper end of said bobbin case or holder with a clearance therebetween suflicient to enable a thread extending from a bobbin mounted in said case or holder to pass between the upper end of the case or holder and said pad, said pad acting to limit vertical movement of said bobbin case or holder relative to said rotary hook and thus to maintain said case or holder in assembled operative nested relationship within the cup-shaped rotary hook.

2. A sewing machine as defined in claim 1 and wherein said bed plate is provided with a hand hole or opening, and a movable cover is provided to close said opening and said pad is mounted on the underside of said cover.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 296,790 Smith Apr. 15, 1884 1,122,999 Pettit Dec. 29, 1914 1,149,049 Hemleb Aug. 3, 1915 1,809,391 Parkes June 9, 1931 1,941,083 Goosman Dec. 26, 1933 1,996,290 Gunther Apr. 2, 1935 1,998,880 Mackay Apr. 23, 1935 

